OUR OPINION: Separating the wheat from the chaff on social media

It’s been fascinating to watch how various emergency responders use social media. More and more, police departments have assigned personnel to post and Tweet updates. Not only do the posts publicize the departments’ work, they also enlist the public’s help in fighting crime.

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

Writer

Posted Jan. 16, 2014 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 21, 2014 at 12:15 PM

Posted Jan. 16, 2014 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 21, 2014 at 12:15 PM

» Social News

It’s been fascinating to watch how various emergency responders use social media.

More and more, police departments have assigned personnel to post and Tweet updates. Not only do the posts publicize the departments’ work, they also enlist the public’s help in fighting crime.

We appreciate the efforts of the State Police force’s use of social media. Through his official Twitter account, Trooper Dustin Fitch has become one of the premiere social media ambassadors for law enforcement. Similarly, Hingham, Quincy and Weymouth police, and the Duxbury Fire Department make excellent use of Twitter to alert the media and the public to traffic-causing accidents, missing persons and various other public safety issues in real time.

The police also use social media to track crime, receive tips and, perhaps most importantly, to build relationships within their respective communities.

It started last week when Weymouth police posted a message on Facebook expressing frustration that “...some people are careless and irresponsible in sharing news on social media without checking the facts first.”

The incident that evidently prompted the message was the discovery of a body under the Fore River Bridge. After the call went out over the scanner, people posted rumors on various social media sites. Some accounts on Facebook relayed the false information that it was a homeless man. Yet as we reported after speaking with both police and the Norfolk County district attorney’s office, the victim was a Quincy woman, and while the investigation is ongoing, police do not suspect foul play.

Weymouth police Capt. Richard Fuller made an excellent point when he said it’s disappointing that people would engage in such irresponsible rumor mongering. As both law enforcement investigators – and the media – know well, it takes time to sort fact from fiction.

We were happy to read on the Weymouth Police Department’s Facebook post its commitment not to scramble scanner transmissions because of the department’s commitment to transparency. We would discourage any emergency responder from doing so.

Page 2 of 2 - The nature of the modern world requires not only police, but the media, to separate the wheat from the chaff on social media. We can only hope those who use Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter will do the same.